


Winter Side Story Day 12.1 - Hunting and Gathering

by unjaundiced



Series: Winter Spirits [15]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hospital, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Gen, Kid Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-13
Updated: 2015-12-13
Packaged: 2018-05-06 10:46:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,214
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5413913
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unjaundiced/pseuds/unjaundiced
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kids don't ask, they take. This one won't have anything to do with Christmas, but it sets up the next Christmas story just a bit.</p><p>Set the year after <a href="http://archiveofourown.org/works/5397032">The Important Things</a>. They're 12 and the Hyuuga twins are 21.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Winter Side Story Day 12.1 - Hunting and Gathering

A strange scuttling sound rattled down the hallway, muffled by the soft shuffling of footsteps. It seemed to careen across the tiles in an aimless fashion, silencing itself whenever Hiashi turned around. The Hyuuga felt almost certain he was being followed but couldn't be sure. It used to be that Hayate kid from the pediatric pulmonary ward that followed him around, but he had been a far more silent tail; seeming to thrill in startling people with his sudden bouts of aggressive coughing.  
  
This was different. It sounded a bit more like something was tied to a string and being dragged, but what could it be?  
  
He turned around and jumped back as an eerie Pinocchio mask's nose almost poked him in the eye.  
  
"What on earth!” He shouted, snatching the mask off his smiling twin.  
  
"You are too serious,” Hizashi said, gently tugging the mask out of his brother's hand.  
  
"Where did you get such a stupid thing,” Hiashi demanded, reaching for the mask again.  
  
"Hm,” his twin made a thoughtful moue. “It was left on my desk.”  
  
"What? Why would someone do that?” the elder grouched, crossing his arms and tapping a toe.  
  
"As a trade, I assume,” his brother grinned.  
  
"For _what_ ,” Hiashi growled, tiring of the game. His twin was far too lenient about his own property which he often borrowed, making most of Hizashi's oft-borrowed property “Hiashi's borrowed property”.  
  
"Why, my eyes of course,” the younger twin's smile grew wider as he adjusted the Pinocchio mask atop his head.  
  
Hiashi groaned. He knew who the culprit _had_ to be. There was no one else steadily accumulating body parts in the area.

  
Hiashi sighed and rubbed the back of his neck, shouldering open the door to the ophthalmology offices as he paused to bow and offer a standard greeting, his cup of tea held out to one side like an offering. He stood up and blinked at the empty room before shrugging and heading towards his section. He had wandered the hospital's rather colorful hallways trying to evade the strange scuttling noise that had been following him all day only to find out that someone had affixed little plastic pumpkins to his shoes at some point and he had been trying to avoid himself the whole time.  
  
Now he was just tired and annoyed and there was someone rummaging in his desk drawer; a spiky-haired someone.  
  
"A- _hem._ " Hiashi cleared his throat forcefully, smuglywatching the startled rifler jump and bang his head on the side of the chair. His internal satisfaction grew as black eyes met his.  
  
“Uchiha Obito, I believe,” the man said, taking a sip of his drink. The boy shuffled his feet, gaudy oversized orange-and-blue jacket making him look small for his age.  
  
"Stealing secrets for your family?” Hiashi mused, leaning to one side.  
  
"Of course not!” the boy protested, blushing hotly.  
  
"Trying to shop for a gift for your _girlfriend?_ " the man needled slightly, internal grin almost turning into a cackle at the ferocity of Obito's blush.  
  
"She's not my girlfriend!” he yelped, clapping his hands over his mouth.

"That girl—Rin, was it?—who's interested in ophthalmology and snuck in here _last_ week to try to get her hands on a model of the human eye,” Hiashi murmured thoughtfully. “That's the one you're always chasing after, right?”  
  
Obito looked appalled.  
  
"Uchiha-san, those models are expensive. If you want one, you have to save up your own money and ask your parents to help you order one.” Hiashi grumbled. “Your family runs its own cranial specialists hospital so why are you coming to this place to grab stuff?”  
  
Obito mumbled something and blushed. Hiashi raised a brow and almost asked him to repeat himself at a decibel level the human ear could appreciate when the office door slid open. He turned curiously.  
  
"UCHIHA OBITO!” a short-haired girl shrieked, stomping into the office. She grabbed the flustered boy and forced him into a bow before hustling him out the door in a frenzy of furious whispers, casting surreptitious jealous glances at the eye the whole time.  
  
Hiashi watched the door slam shut before calmly taking another sip of tea. Class 6-B was almost as bad as Class 6-A for having nosy doctors' kids intent on outdoing each other in their education. Speaking of Class 6-A and nosy kids...  
  
Hiashi walked to the cabinet in the corner and opened the door. His pale gray eyes met sullen ones in a darker shade of gray. He resisted the urge to roll his eyes and stood aside, giving a short nod to the boy hiding inside.  
  
“You might as well come out, Kakashi-kun,” he said, looking toward his desk. “Obito-san is gone now.”  
  
"That kid is annoying,” Kakashi muttered, climbing over the skeleton cheerfully named Himawari that blocked his way. Over his shoulder was his school satchel and under his arm was a softball sized replica of the human eye, spliced open to reveal the inner layers.  
  
"Thank you,” Hiashi uttered with flat cheer as he casually scooped the eye from under Kakashi's arm and headed towards his desk. He ignored the glare that was undoubtedly drilling into his back.  
  
"But you weren't in here to save my eye from Obito-san, _were_ you,” he continued, carefully setting his eye model on the corner of his desk. Kakashi stared mutely at the thing.  
  
"Rin-chan is just going through a phase,” a voice chimed in from behind the boy.  
  
Kakashi turned and nodded towards Hizashi in greeting. The man smiled and bowed slightly.  
  
"She won't chase you forever,” he continued. “One day she'll see Obito-kun for the wonderful person he is and you won't have to worry anymore. You'll just have to wait her out.”  
  
"No thanks,” Kakashi mumbled, turning to stare at the eye.  
  
Hiashi tapped his empty cup on the desk a few times and carefully eyed the boy. He looked up suddenly and met his brother's eyes. They seemed to have a psychic conversation for a moment before Hizashi nodded. Hiashi shrugged a shoulder minutely and poked Kakashi in the shoulder.  
  
Kakashi glared.  
  
"You want that?” Hiashi asked, pointing at the eye with the cup.  
  
Kakashi looked at it uncertainly, an obvious _yes_ in his eyes.  
  
"I don't want you leaving me junk for a trade,” Hiashi continued, tapping his cup again. “And you'll be back anyhow so you might as well take it.”  
  
Kakashi looked surprised, but didn't make a move.  
  
"Kakashi-kun,” Hizashi commented, picking up the eye. “You want to become a great doctor, right?”  
  
The boy nodded, looking at him with mild curiosity.  
  
"For your collection,” the younger of the two med-students said, holding out the model. Kakashi hesitated and looked at Hiashi. The older man casually inspected the ceiling tiles.  
  
"Become a great doctor,” Hizashi continued, pressing the eye into Kakashi's hands.  
  
The boy nodded and bowed deeply, mumbling something and shuffled out the door.  
  
"You know...” Hizashi said as the door slid closed. His brother looked at him curiously.  
  
"There are better ways to give someone a birthday present,” he finished with a grin.  
  
"It's not a birthday present,” his twin grumbled. “That's the last thing he needed for his collection. I'd do anything to get him to stop taking things from the hospital.”


End file.
